Johnston confident of putting on good show at MTB Festival Champ on right course
D E F E N D I N G c h a m p i o n Brendan Johnston is in fine form as he prepares to defend his Mountain Bike Australia Marathon National Championships title.
The Canberra rider will have to endure North Queensland’s heat when he races around five 17km laps of Douglas Mountain Bike Park tomorrow as part of the 2018 Townsville MTB Festival.
Often riding for more than four hours in the saddle, the Giant team rider has built his career around covering the big miles on dirt.
Johnston started mountain biking about 15 years ago. He balances it with some road racing but it is on long rides on the dirt he feels most comfortable.
“Marathons is where I’ve made my career,” Johnston said.
“I won the title last year and I won it two years ago in Tasmania.”
Looking to defend his title in the five- leg series, Johnston worked himself into serious contention to do so.
He had to work his way back into form after a piece of metal lodged in the front wheel of his road bike in a training ride last November which resulted in him face- planting and breaking his nose.
But Johnston was quick to recover and competed in the national road championships in January.
On Townsville’s dirt he will be a firm favourite after securing two pole- position finishes in the previous marathon championship rounds.
“I won the race last week in Bendigo, Victoria, and then I came second in the first round in Alice Springs,” he said.
To adjust to the conditions, Johnston managed a couple of training rides after touching down in Townsville on Thursday.
“It’s a bit warmer than Canberra,” he joked.
Johnston has never ridden around Douglas before.
“It’s a bit of a luxury learning the course,” he said.
He said most riders were from interstate so would not get a chance to survey the course beforehand.
Johnston said he had heard the course had a lot of single trails and was “quite slow, with quite a bit of climbing”.
He will next compete at Redland Bay in Round 4 in June and Dwellingup, Western Australia, in Round 5 in August.
The winners of the men’s and women’s national marathon championship get a chance to represent Australia.
But Johnston, who has raced in world championship events in Europe, America and Asia, said he would focus his attention on domestic races.
As part of the Townsville MTB Festival, hosted by Townsville Rockwheelers, secondary school students raced yesterday in the schools challenge.
The Glow Ride will be held tonight and the elite men’s and women’s racing is tomorrow.